What’s a “Song Demo” and why would I need one?
Who will I be working with?
Who are the musicians and vocalists?
Do you use Protools?
How quickly can I have my finished demo back to me?
How does the process work?
Can I be present when the demo is being made?
What if I have more questions?
What’s a
“Song Demo” and why would I need one?
A song
demo is a “demonstration” of your song as you would hear it
if a recording artist recorded it and released it on their
album. While songs have been cut by pitching a work tape of
the song, in recent years this is a rarity.
The truth is… established
songwriters and publishers that are pitching songs to
recording artists everyday only pitch fully produced demos.
Industry executives are used to hearing a song “realized”.
They want it to sound like a record because in many cases,
it’s a sure fire way to know if it’s going to work for the
project.
Additionally, if you want to
send your songs to music production libraries or music
supervisors for placement in movies or television shows,
it’s imperative that they are “broadcast quality”. They
want the songs to sonically sound amazing so that they blend
well in the scenes they are placing them in.
Aside from the above
mentioned reasons we have many clients that just love to
write songs and want quality recordings of them. Regardless
of your reasons for getting a professional recording of your
song, we will work very hard at helping you achieve the
sound you want.
-back to top-
Who will I be working with?
Jimi Heath- Owner
Jimi has worked in the music industry over 12
years. She has worked with David Foster, Carol Bayer Sager,
was Dir of Marketing for TAXI, and has worked for and still
works with The Nashville Songwriter Association. She is
also an accomplished songwriter and publisher. Jimi works
tirelessly to ensure that every songwriter recording with
NDS is treated like a rock star! Jimi makes herself
available via email and phone to talk to songwriters who
have questions about anything from recording to the music
industry.
Rod
Lewis-Owner/Musician
Rod is a hit songwriter and has been a
professional musician for over 20 years. He has worked with
such artists as Gary Allan, Chris Cummings, Jeffrey Steele,
TG Shepard, etc. Rod handles all of the preproduction of
your songs and ensures that we achieve the perfect
production and sound for your song.
Chip Hardy
– Producer/Musician/Mentor
What hasn't Chip done? Chip is a
former VP of MCA Records, a hit songwriter and producer,
former VP of Hamstein Publishing, former VP of Evergreen
Publishing. He has produced and worked on records by
Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Reba, George Strait just to
name a few. The coolest thing? Chip produces our
clients demos! ...and YES, its at no additional cost
to you.
Bobby
Holland – Chief Engineer
Bobby is our in house engineer. It is his
job to ensure that the sounds we are getting from the band
are industry standard during tracking. He also mixes your
song. He takes particular care in every song to ensure that
you’re mix is amazing and up to the very high bar that music
execs are used to hearing.
Benjamin
Olson – Studio Manager
Benjamin is our rock star studio manager.
Ben is your point of contact when it comes to booking and
billing. He is committed to making your experience with NDS
as smooth as possible. Why is his job so important? He
handles all the detail work so you can concentrate on what
you are best at..being a creative and amazing songwriter!
Tim Grogan
– Producer/Musician
Tim has been a professional musician and
producer for over 20 years. He was in the Desert Rose Band,
Boy Howdy (that’s Jeffrey Steele’s band) and has worked with
many artists from Aaron Tippin to Dizzy Gillespie. Tim
recently produced Aaron Tippin’s new album with James
Stroud. Tim’s job is to ensure that the over all production
(from music to vocals) is flawless and amazing.
Tom "Pittsburgh"
Pouchot - Staff Engineer
Pittsburgh, as we affectionately call him is our staff
engineer and also helps out with scheduling our music row
mentoring program. Pittsburgh has a degree in audio
engineering from The Conservatory college and prior to
working here, worked for Interface Audio.
Leslie Hunze - Office
Manager
Leslie is our office manager. She keeps all of us in line!
Leslie aids in scheduling, administrates our contests,
roundtables and special events and is a liaison between us
and music row executives.
-back to top-
Who are the musicians and
vocalists?
Rod Lewis (Gary Allen, Chris Cummings, etc) and Tim Grogan
(Jeffrey Steele, Desert Rose Band, etc) play on all of our
demo sessions. They make up the rhythm section of the band
(bass and drums). We hire in the rest of the band based
upon the needs of your song. Both Rod and Tim not only play
on sessions here at NDS, they also play on many sessions
around town for publishers and record labels. We know
exactly who to call when putting together a great band. We
ONLY use professional Nashville players and we encourage you
to call and ask us who's playing on your session, we will
gladly give you their names (or you can meet them on person
or see them online) and you can google them and check out
their resumes, they are all very impressive. The same
guys that play on many of the songs you hear on your radio
are the the guys we use to record your song demo..
We also use professional,
studio trained, singers. We have a very small list of singers on our
website for you to check out. If you are hearing a specific
type of voice, just let us know and we will email you some
links to different singers that fit your requests from you
to choose from. If you have a specific demo singer in mind,
we can book them as well.
-back to top-
Do you use Protools?
Yes. We use the latest version of Protools HD. We also
have the ability to track in RADAR and Tape. You can view a
full listing of our gear here:
GEAR LIST.
-back to top-
How quickly can I have my
finished demo back to me?
Our turn around
time is 5 business days from the date of the session, though
we usually have it back to you much sooner than that.
We have a session every Thursday and usually a second
session earlier in the week. So if we record your song
on a Thursday you will have the mix of the song sent for
your approval no later than the following Thursday however
in most cases you will have it on the following Monday.
-back to top-
So how does the process work?
First of all, we work very hard so that you can concentrate
your efforts on the creative side. Here is how it works:
You can check out our video series on this here:
|
PT. 1:
ORDERING AND
PREPRODUCTION |
PT. 2:
TRACKING YOUR SONG
IN THE STUDIO |
PT. 3:
RECORDING VOCALS AND
MIXING YOUR SONG |
|
 |
 |
 |
CONTACT US
1.
You contact us
by ordering online, giving us a call at 615-386-8360 or
sending us an email.
SEND US YOUR TUNE
2.
We will call you
as soon as we hear from you and request that you send us by
email or mail a worktape of your song and a copy of the
lyric. This can be just you and a guitar or piano singing
the melody or just you singing acapella. You DON’T have to
be a good singer, we just need to hear the song so that we
can chart it for the musicians.
3. Then
we schedule a preproduction meeting with you and the
preproduction producer who will be charting your song and
communicating unique ideas for the song to the musicians.
4.
Once we get the
worktape we will choose a session date to record your song
(we do one to two sessions every week) send you a contract
for you to read and electronically sign. Once we get your
contract back we will take your deposit (50% of total
bill). We take cash, check and all major credit cards.
With the exception of cash, we can take payment over the
phone.
PRE-PRODUCTION
5.
Once we get your
worktape and lyric we will chart it in the Nashville Number
System and the session leader (the guy charting your song)
will give you a call and go over production ideas. Once we
have communicated our ideas and you have communicated your
ideas we’ll see what you think would be best and notate all
of that on the chart. This step is very important so please
make sure to communicate ALL of your ideas to the session
leader.
6.
You will choose what vocalist you want to
sing your song. If you need help with this we will suggest
the vocalist(s) that we think would sound best.
RECORDING
7.
We will track the main instruments of your
song on a 10am-1pm tracking session. Then we break for
lunch for one hour and from 2-4 we track overdub instruments
(fiddle, pads, strings, etc). Once that is done its off to
record vocals. Sometimes, singers aren’t available to sing
the day of tracking, so we will schedule the vocals at the
singers earliest convenience.
MIXING
8.
Then it goes to mixing. Once your song is
mixed we will send you the mixed track for you to review.
If you have any changes you would like to make to the mix,
we remix it (at no additional cost to you).
DELIVERY
9.
Once you are satisfied with your song, we
collect the other half of your payment and send you a high
quality file of your song via CD Copy in the mail or our
secure, FTP server.
Can I be
present when the demo is being made?
ABSOLUTELY!!!
In fact, if you cant be here in Nashville, you can
participate online!!!
-back to top-
What if I
have more questions?
If you have more questions just give us a call at
615-386-8360 or send us an email via our
contact page.
We'd love to hear from you!
|
